


Rodents

by Bouncy_cat



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Gen, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-06
Updated: 2012-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-30 16:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/333800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bouncy_cat/pseuds/Bouncy_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny is reluctant to talk about his alter.  Steve pushes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rodents

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate universe where people are able to shapeshift.  
> I felt like writing something silly :)

Steve waited until they were in the Camaro, on a trip to the other side of the island, to bring up the subject that Danny had been skilfully dodging since they met.

“So…Danno…are you going to tell me?”

Danny turned to him with a smile. Crumbs from the malasada he’d just scarfed down were sticking to his tie. “Tell you what?”

“What you are.”

“What I am?” The easy smile dropped from Danny’s face, replaced with the strange tension Steve had noticed before each time this subject came up.

“Yeah.” Steve said. Danny opened his mouth and for a second he thought he was going to get an actual straightforward answer.   

“ _I_ …am a _detective_ , Steve.  Have been for quite some time now, and as such I have a pretty good understanding of police procedure. Procedure that is necessary to be able to actually convict the bad guys once you’ve caught them-”

Steve stepped in before Danny got into full ranting mode. “Hey,” he said, “I apologized for that already.” Also, he wasn’t going to let his partner change the subject that easily.  Not this time. “And you _know_ that’s not what I meant.”

Danny fell silent, gazing out the window.

“So,” Steve prodded. “Tell me.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Why not? What’s the big deal?”

“It’s private.”

Steve snorted. “Come off it, Danny. We’re ohana.  It’s not like I’m asking a complete stranger.”

Danny didn’t answer and they drove in silence for a little while.

Steve looked at his partner looking out the window. “You know I can probably find out from your records anyway…”  

“Suit yourself.”

Steve frowned. It wasn’t like Danny at all to be so closed off about personal stuff. He really didn’t get what the big deal was with talking about his alter. Maybe he’d be more open if Steve talked about his own first. “I’m a cat, you know. A bobcat.  I always wished I were a panther, but no, a bobcat it is. It’s not bad as far as alters go.”

Danny’s look seemed to get darker. 

“Chin’s a pueo.” Steve offered.

“A Phooy what?”

“A pueo. An owl. And Kono is an Indian Mongoose.”

“Jesus Christ.” Danny mumbled under his breath. “A cat, an owl and a fucking mongoose. How the hell did I end up in this place?”

Steve looked at his partner grumble. There was something he was missing here.  None of them had particularly spectacular alters.  Kono’s Indian mongoose was probably the most interesting, but it was pretty common on the islands. Danny seemed aggravated nonetheless. Maybe his alter was something utterly ordinary, like a chicken or a bunny, and he was embarrassed? “Tell me,” he pushed.

“No.”

“What’s Grace’s?”

Danny’s demeanour changed immediately. “She’s a squirrel.  She has this huge bushy tail.  It’s gorgeous.” Steve settled in to listen to his partner stories about Grace’s exploits as a squirrel, deciding to let Danny off the hook. For now.

\------------------------------------------------------------

A _rodent_. Steve wondered how come he hadn’t noticed before how entirely unhelpful Danny’s personnel file was. The blonde’s alter was listed simply as ‘rodent’. That could mean anything from a Capybara to a pygmy mouse. Maybe he really was a rabbit? Wait, was a rabbit even a rodent? Maybe a squirrel then, like Gracie? But after the way Danny had waxed poetic about Gracie’s tail, agility, cuteness, strength and speed he couldn’t imagine Danny being ashamed of being a squirrel.

He was going to find out though, because how could you ever really know someone if you hadn’t met their alter? It grated on him. Danny was his best friend; he wanted to know _all_ of him. He’d met Chin’s and Kono’s alters.  The three of them had played together in the sand in front of Steve’s house. Kono chasing Steve while Chin performed sneak-attacks from above. He wanted Danny to join them. 

\------------------------------------------------------------

Steve left Danny sitting on the couch. After a huge steak and a couple of beers his partner was sprawled on the couch boneless and relaxed, laughing at infomercials on tv. This was the best time for what Steve had planned. With a soft mumble about going to the loo Steve left the room. In the bathroom he quickly shed his clothes and concentrated. The change took only seconds.

Soundlessly he padded back into the sitting room. Just a couple of feet away from Danny he stopped and waited for his partner to notice him. 

Danny’s eyes widened when he saw the bobcat. Steve jumped onto the couch and sat his furry ass down on Danny’s lap. 

His partner hesitated for a second but then he reached out and gently patted Steve’s thick fur. “Asshole,” Danny muttered. “You don’t give up do you?” He sounded resigned. 

Steve butted his head against Danny’s chin and waited.

“Okay.” Danny said. He sounded nervous. “I’m a rat okay? A fucking rat, and if you have a problem with that then screw you.”

Steve jumped of Danny’s lap and changed back instantly, grabbing a cushion to cover his privates. “A rat?!”

Danny crossed his arms defensively. “Yes. A rat.”

“Seriously?”

“Fuck you.”

“Seriously?!” Steve repeated. “You’ve been this secretive about your alter because you’re a rat? Rats are awesome! They’re one of the toughest species of mammals in existence. They can adapt to just about any environment.  There are rats in Alaska, in deserts, in freaking nuclear test zones! They can fall of a four-story building, land, and run away.”

As Steve ranted he saw the expression on Danny’s face change. There was relief in his eyes. “Christ,” he continued, “I spent all this time thinking you were embarrassed because you were a freaking bunny.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he hastily added.

There was a small smile on Danny’s face now and Steve kept talking. “You know, when I was a kid I used to have two rats as pets. Taught them tricks. I put them on my head and went swimming with them…They used to sleep in my neck.”

Danny’s eyes darted to his neck.

“Seriously Danny, rats are cool, why be embarrassed about a rat as an alter?”

“The plague for one…”

 Steve didn’t really have anything to counter that.

“It’s just…” Danny gestured vaguely. “You have no idea how many people associate rats with diseases and germs and traitors and generally everything bad.”

Steve winced as he imagined the kind of reactions Danny might have gotten to make him so reluctant to share his alter. He grabbed the blondes shoulder and squeezed. “You don’t have to worry about that with us alright? We’re ohana.  You don’t need to hide from us.”

Danny nodded and they sat in silence for a moment until Steve remembered his state of undress. “I’m uh, gonna put some clothes on.”

Danny snorted and grabbed the remote. “Bring me back a beer.”

Two beers later they were watching a game when Danny excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Steve forced himself not to look when he heard tiny nails scrambling to climb the couch. Moments later a small warm body with a slightly cooler feeling tail crawled into his neck and stretched out. Steve grinned at the TV. _Finally_.  

 

\-------------------

Steve as a [bobcat](http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=bobcat&um=1&hl=nl&safe=off&sa=N&biw=983&bih=612&tbm=isch&tbnid=mNECDXuM9jwWbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.animalphoto.tk/bobcat.html&docid=VSTi0ewGq_zxDM&imgurl=http://www.animalphoto.tk/wp-content/uploads/pictures/bobcat-photos-6317.jpg&w=475&h=357&ei=URYvT7bONYSf-QblvMz_DQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=454&sig=103447035481109335130&page=2&tbnh=132&tbnw=163&start=15&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:15&tx=100&ty=59). 

Danny as a [rat](http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=rat+curious&hl=nl&safe=off&gbv=2&biw=983&bih=612&tbm=isch&tbnid=SBzl_EX9hQdsGM:&imgrefurl=http://www.everydayhealth.com/pet-health-pictures/good-bad-and-unusual-exotic-pets.aspx&docid=xSIa5buPRDIheM&imgurl=http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/gcms/photogallery_is_your_home_right_for_an_exotic_pet_07_full.jpg&w=300&h=400&ei=XSgvT7TICIih-Qaj1ZCgDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=510&vpy=106&dur=3&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=70&ty=119&sig=103447035481109335130&page=8&tbnh=145&tbnw=109&start=131&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:131).

Chin as a [pueo](http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=pueo&hl=nl&safe=off&gbv=2&biw=983&bih=612&tbm=isch&tbnid=iEWm4XhsZB8z1M:&imgrefurl=http://www.nitwit.com/Ed/&docid=8q55oAjHI6uhYM&imgurl=http://www.nitwit.com/Ed/Pueo/images%252520cropped/P81.jpg&w=383&h=575&ei=4ygvT8qmDYvm-gb11IygDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=615&sig=103447035481109335130&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=91&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0&tx=50&ty=48). 

Kono as an [indian mongoose](http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=indian+mongoose&um=1&hl=nl&safe=off&biw=983&bih=612&tbm=isch&tbnid=BkDst_p85In1AM:&imgrefurl=http://www.itsnature.org/ground/mammals-land/common-gray-mongoose/&docid=HuZRUXLRmNOktM&imgurl=http://www.itsnature.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/1187064713.jpg&w=1280&h=960&ei=PCkvT6_3N8uD-wazmZWODg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=580&sig=103447035481109335130&page=4&tbnh=130&tbnw=149&start=51&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:51&tx=54&ty=71).

Guess what the bobcat, the owl and the mongoose have in common XD


End file.
